FUD : Java Glossary

Acronym FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt). A marketing tactic to freeze the buyer from making a
decision by leaving an impression that a better product might be available imminently,
and that there are mysterious fatal flaws with the existing ones. In politics it means
spreading unsubstantiated rumours to discredit an opponent’s position. For
example Karl Rove smeared John McCain by robocalling and asking What would you think if someone told you McCain had a black child out of
wedlock? He did not actually say McCain had such a child, but that is how people
took it and spread the rumour for him.